In August 2010 Thilo Sarrazin, a member of Germany's Social Democratic Pparty (SPD), former senator of finance for the state of Berlin and until recently board member of the German central bank (Bundesbank), published a book that has provoked a huge debate in Germany. By the end of October 2010 1.1 million copies of the book had been printed of which 750,00 had already been sold: "Deutschland schafft sich ab" ("Germany abolishes itself") looks at the effects of immigration, the shrinking birth-rate in Germany and the growth of a social "underclass". Above all, Sarrazin accuses Muslims in particular of being unwilling to integrate. German integration authorities, academics and politicians, he argues, are refusing to even discuss the problem:

"In Germany, a host of integration researchers, Islam scholars, sociologists, political scientists, interest groups as well as a flock of naïve politicians work hand in hand and intensively in belittlement, self-delusion, and denial."

(Deutschland schafft sich ab, p. 279)

In an interview with the weekly Die Zeit, Sarrazin summed up his analysis in "the rule of three":

"First: the natural population dynamic of our people is declining. Second: birth-rates are related to class